


Keep On Keeping On

by 2891



Series: DJD Week 2020 [1]
Category: Death Stranding (Video Games), ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Afterlife, Beached Things (Death Stranding), Biological Weapons, Bridge Babies (Death Stranding), Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, DOOMS (Death Stranding), F/M, Homo Demens (Death Stranding), Lovers To Enemies, M/M, Masturbation in Shower, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Relationship(s), Resurrection, Sexual Tension, Survival Horror, Timefall (Death Stranding), Visions in dreams, cosmic horror, djdweek2020, jonadad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:34:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27193169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2891/pseuds/2891
Summary: DJD Week 2020 short fic for Day 1 Prompt: CrossoverFandoms: JJBA x Death Stranding
Relationships: Dio Brando/Jonathan Joestar, Erina Pendleton Joestar/Jonathan Joestar, Jonathan Joestar/Trish Una
Series: DJD Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985093
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	Keep On Keeping On

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler Warning:  
> If you haven’t played the game, there will be some mild spoilers in some things that get explained. I included a bit of exposition for people who have no idea about DS, but even with that, it’s difficult to explain the story and world building without a) extending the fic into the ten-thousands word count and b) giving too much away in spoilers. In any case, I did my best to introduce the DS world for newcomers so that the basic mechanics and character roles make some sense. For those that know DS, you’ll probably understand better the role that each Jojo character is in. 
> 
> A quick guide just in case:  
> \- Timefall: In DS, rain is dangerous: it speeds up time and makes you age quicker (thus, it’s called ‘timefall’ instead of rainfall). In the game, you must avoid rain, because a) if you get soaked you’ll get wrinkly and possibly die and b) rain usually precedes BT encounters.  
> \- BTs: aka “Beached Things”, ghoul-like beings that cross over from a limbo-like space and into the world of the living to devour living beings. When a BT eats or absorbs a living being, their matter collapses into a voidout (a huge explosion) which can wipe out entire cities. Needless to say, you need to avoid them getting you. In the game, the MC’s blood and fluids are an effective weapon against them.  
> \- The Beach: When living beings die, they go to The Beach, which is like a middle ground between being alive and dead. It’s a psychic space, like a bridge between both worlds.  
> \- Jumping: Some people have the ability to traverse the world of the living and the dead by traveling between The Beach to make instantaneous jumps from one place to the other, kind of like a wormhole. If they’re strong enough, they can even transport other people with them, helping them “quantum jump” from one place to another instantly. 
> 
> I recommend this track from the game to give you an ambience feel for the game: [ https://youtu.be/CgisznCWolw](https://youtu.be/CgisznCWolw)
> 
> Enjoy :)

As soon as Jonathan felt the first drop of rain on his face, he ran. 

His arms flew down to his belly in a protective stance; an instinct by now, in an effort to safeguard the small, fragile unborn child inside the artificial womb held fastened to his porter suit. The infant inside wailed in terror, making Jonathan panic even further. Jonathan pulled up his hood and broke into a sprint, holding tight to the cord that connected them to each other, their umbilical Strand, which in turn connected him to those ghastly beings that sprung up from the earth and grabbed at his heels, wanting to drag him under. 

BTs. Everywhere. He had walked into a minefield of them inadvertently. 

He couldn't outrun them. The ground instantly turned to tar wherever Jonathan's boots touched. He slipped on a wet rock and all of him went tumbling down into the mud. His cargo flew off in all directions, lost in the sinking earth as he continued to be pulled from below by long, thin black arms. 

Thunder broke in a deafening low roar, darkening the sky and quickening the deadly timefall. Layered on top of the thunder were Giorno's wails growing louder and louder while the tar wraiths insisted on taking them down into the deathless world from whence they came. 

"You thought you could get away from me, didn't you, Jojo?" 

A smooth drawl taunted from behind. Jonathan desperately wanted to turn around and face the smirking bastard but he was nearly knee deep into the ground and sinking rapidly. However, he didn't need to see a face to know his opponent was smiling and thoroughly enjoying this. 

"Damn it, Dio, stop this! You'll cause a voidout! This whole area will be wiped out!" Jonathan yelled, hoping to instil some reason into the madman, to no avail. 

He was met with raucous laughter instead. Jonathan chose to ignore Dio's antics momentarily and shifted his attention towards getting out of the tar pit and finding some leverage by hopping onto one of the buildings surfacing from within the BT zone. After much struggling (and trying to soothe Giorno) he finally managed to unhook a hematic grenade from his pouch and chuck it at the BT pool underneath him. The weapon exploded upon contact and dispersed the beings long enough for him to find safety atop a massive boulder. 

From there, Jonathan examined his surroundings and located Dio, who hovered high in the crimson sky, pulling up more creatures and those strange, powerful beings called Stands, that were only visible to Jonathan using the odradek system hooked up to the BB-unit on his belly. Yet, Giorno was so distressed, he was unable to aid Jonathan in seeing the Stands clearly and so Jonathan was essentially left in the dark as to where he was supposed to aim. 

With no time to waste, Jonathan pulled out his HG-customised anti-BT handgun and shot at whatever he set eyes on, but there were simply too many creatures and Dio seemed to be summoning anything and everything he could using his unnatural powers. The small handgun was the only weapon he had on him besides the grenades that would work against the creatures and Dio's summoned Stands. He cursed himself for not being more diligent and printing out a proper assault rifle when he had the chance during his last pit stop at a distro centre. 

"Dio!" Jonathan yelled, trying to make himself heard over the roar of the creatures that emerged from the sea of blood and tar that Dio continued to summon. "Stop this! Please! It doesn't have to be this way! Come back and be with me!"

Before him, Dio levitated safely beyond the reach of the claws of the dead, who wailed and moaned for their master. His black and gold cloak, like a Pharaoh's headdress, waved imperiously in the air and the gold of his mask glinted in the lowlight of the darkened heavens. Dio smirked yet again and threw his head back in laughter, allowing timefall to fall freely on his face. Jonathan's mouth gaped, watching in astonishment as the black eyeliner ran down Dio's cheeks like the black-tar trails of dead souls.

"Be with you? And do what? Spend the rest of my life delivering packages to useless cowards who hide in their bunkers, wasting their lives away underground, like some sort of post-apocalyptic Amazon courier? Nonsense! I, Dio, have renounced humanity and have harnessed the power of Death itself, Jojo! And soon I will control the last of the living as well!"

"I am the Lord and Master of the Death Stranding!" he screamed. 

With that, Dio raised his hands to the sky and a blinding light flashed suddenly from above, making Jonathan squint and miss his last firing shot. When at last his eyes adjusted, the sight before him rendered him speechless: a giant, a Titan BT, with eyes made of gold and a rectangular like face, heart-shaped green jewels adorning its body and fists that caused the air around them to condense and slow down appeared, towering above the ground. 

Jonathan felt his throat go dry. Giorno screamed and screamed and the odradek swirled wildly, unable to lock onto any one thing. 

"Behold, Jojo!" Dio cried out, eyes insanely out of their orbits. "The World!"

"Dio! No-!!"

As soon as Dio uttered the words, time stopped. Jonathan felt himself freeze and everything go dark. The last thought to cross his mind was one of regret, a lament that he never made it to Erina in Edge Knot City. 

* * *

When Jonathan next opened his eyes, he was on The Beach. 

Erina's long, blond hair swayed gently in the breeze, there standing in front of him, back turned and facing the ocean. Her red dress stuck to her body, damp from the salty, wet breeze. Jonathan tried to move, finding he was on his back, laying on the sand and feeling incredibly heavy and tired. He was also naked with only the Q-pid necklace around his neck. 

His first instinct was to touch his belly. Giorno. Where was Giorno? What had happened to him?

"Jojo, you're finally awake." 

Erina spoke softly, turning around and smiling at him. 

"Am I dead?" Jonathan asked, redundantly. He already knew the answer. Erina confirmed it by nodding. 

"Did Dio cause a voidout?" 

Was his next question. Erina nodded again, her expression turning from sweet to sour. 

"And next you will ask about Giorno, will you now?" She interjected before he could. Jonathan stared at her. She looked upset. 

"You never ask about Jorge anymore," she mumbled, her eyes dropping to the ground. Jonathan stayed silent, unable to contradict her. 

"When will you come to me, Jojo? I have been waiting for you for so long..."

"Erina," Jonathan started. He desperately wanted to reach out to her, touch her, but he also needed to know that Giorno was safe. 

"Is Giorno OK? Just tell me."

Erina's eyes turned cold and all she did was point towards the water. "Go in and go back. Giorno is on the other side. He's waiting for you."

Jonathan wanted to run and dive into the water immediately but he felt his limbs heavy, heavier than lead. Erina began to backtrack into the water, her red heels slowly sinking into the wet sand. Jonathan crawled in after her, desperate to find the strand that would allow him to repatriate and return to the world to the living. He followed her lead as she submerged herself into the sea. Jonathan dove in after her but when he opened his eyes inside the water, she was gone. 

Yet he felt distinctively when she stroked his cheek and whispered into his ear. "Find me, Jojo, before Dio does!"

She then pushed him to the bottom of the sea and held him under until everything turned black. 

* * *

"Jojo? Mr. Joestar, are you awake?"

The blinding, clinical lights stung his eyes harshly. Jonathan rubbed them furiously and tried to make sense of the blur of shapes and colours that was his vision. Finally, it all settled into the familiar sight of a Safe House Private Room. Yet, that told him nothing, for he truly had no idea where he was as all the rooms look the same, regardless of location. He could be back in Capital Knot for all he knew. 

"Mr. Joestar?" The disembodied voice inquired once again. Jonathan sat up on the bed and cleared his throat. It felt raspy, and tasted like seawater. 

"Speedwagon? Is that you?" 

Jonathan asked, voice croaky. The voice laughed, confirming his friend's identity. 

"Thank the heavens, Mr. Joestar! I thought for a second you weren't coming back this time!"

The hologram of Robert Speedwagon suddenly appeared before Jonathan, causing him to fall back on the bed and hurting his wrist which was still inside the locked cufflink. Despite it being Speedwagon's favourite mode of communication, it never failed to spook Jonathan somewhat; to talk to an image of his friend rather than to the man in person. Jonathan winced from the pain in his wrist, and that seemed to catch Robert’s attention. 

"Oh, sorry. I forget these things lock up while you sleep. Lemme get that for you." Moments later, the cufflink was unlocked.

"Must you really handcuff me to the bed every time I go to sleep?" Jonathan asked, rubbing his sore wrist. "I know you like kinky things but this is a little extreme!" He joked for his friend’s benefit, causing Speedwagon to blush so much it even showed on the pixels of his hologram. 

"Ah-ah it's for your tests. I swear there's nothing unseemly about it!" Speedwagon stuttered, adorably. "I know it's uncomfortable, but we need to get your blood samples whenever we have an opportunity. Joestar blood is special. It's the only thing that seems to repel these horrid abominations and Dio."

Robert finished his explanation and removed his bowler hat, running his fingers awkwardly through his ashen blond hair. It allowed Jonathan to admire the rather large scar that ran all across his forehead, which Robert likened on many occasions to make him resemble a monster in some horror story from a world long gone. 

Now finally free from the bed, Jonathan made a dash for the BB pod, finding it empty. "Robert, where's Giorno?" He asked, anxiety and dread thick in his voice. 

Robert's hologram turned towards the empty pod. "We had to take the unit into maintenance. It was far too distressed and went into autotoxemia."

The words made Jonathan's blood turn cold. "Is he OK? Robert, please tell me Giorno is alive and safe!"

"He?" Robert's hologram asked, cocking its head. "Jojo, it's not a real baby. It's a weird hybrid the Foundation created to allow you to see Stands. For some reason, the BB-unit has a connection to Dio and it can see and detect Stands. I told you not to get attached to it. It's just a piece of machinery."

"It isn't," Jonathan argued. He had begun to hate it when Robert, Zepelli and everyone at SPW referred to Giorno as a 'thing,' simply because his conception had been 'unconventional.' Yes, he seemed to have both Dio's and Joestar DNA, and how he came to be, nobody truly understood it. Nor how Giorno could detect Stands and the immaterial reality of the Beached Things (otherwise known as ‘BTs’) that seemed to plague their world. The SPW Foundation had decided to use Giorno and other unborn children like him to help porters like Jojo cross terrain with the ability to locate these BTs and thus complete their mission to reconnect the country and save Erina, CEO of the SPW Foundation and the President of the United Cities of America, who was currently being held hostage by Dio and his minions somewhere in Edge Knot City. 

For those reasons, men like Speedwagon and the Baron Zeppeli worked tirelessly to find Stand users and put them in special pods; makeshift wombs to allow porters like Jonathan to travel and make deliveries with the BB units attached to them through an umbilical cord. It's basically what kept the country from falling completely apart. 

_Unborn children with Stand abilities, exploited by the government_. It disgusted Jonathan to no end. 

"Giorno is not a piece of hardware," Jonathan declared, running his fingers over the empty pod with worry. "Please take care of him."

Speedwagon frowned but ultimately nodded his head. He placed his hat back on his head and pointed to the terminal. "I'll make sure ‘ _Giorno’_ gets a proper check-up, okay? Promise. But for now, I need you to look in the terminal. You have an urgent order for the Baron Zeppeli in Mountain Knot."

Jonathan frowned. Why would they send him on a run to Mountain Knot now of all times? Now, when Dio is attacking wide and open and they could have a lead as to where he is hiding Erina? 

"What does the Baron need? Is this really urgent?" Jonathan complained.

"He is almost at the brink of an important discovery regarding the Death Stranding and the connection between it, Dio and the Stone Mask. Which is the item we need you to deliver to him for further inspection," Speedwagon explained, pulling up the description of the order on the terminal screen, which included the specs of the mask and its container. 

Jonathan stared at the screen with disbelief. "You _have_ this thing? What caused this mess in the first place? And now he wants to look at it?"

"It might help us understand how to stop the extinction event and Dio," Speedwagon argued but Jonathan scoffed and shook his head.

"I know Dio. If only I could get him to listen to me..." Jonathan sighed and ran his hands down his face in exhaustion. "I was almost at Edge Knot when Dio attacked me... By the way Robert, where exactly am I?"

Speedwagon pointed to the map to their location on it. "We're not far from the distro centre east of Lake Knot. I don't know how you got sent all the way back here, but it seems to have to do with Dio's growing powers. This is a problem. The stronger he becomes, the weaker the veil between the other side and our world. I-" Speedwagon cut himself off, apparently needing to swallow his nerves. "You don't even want to look outside. Those things are everywhere."

Speedwagon then pointed at a pin on the map, showcasing the Baron’s lab in the middle of a rocky valley, flanked by a heart-shaped lake. "We really need to get the mask to the Baron. He’ll know what to do, Jojo. I know it’s a deadly journey but I know you can do it!"

The gravity of the situation was dawning on him. Jonathan himself gulped. 

"Robert, how am I going to make it to Zepelli's lab in Mountain Knot without Giorno to help me see Dio's Stands?"

Speedwagon's fear was incredibly palpable. Even through the glitching lines of the hologram, Jonathan could divise the deep frown lines in his friend’s worried face. Amazing resolution, he had to concede. Speedwagon hesitated a beat before answering and sighed.

"Jojo," he said with a tone of deep dread, "I sincerely apologise but you will have to make this run alone without Giorno until I can get him up and running again."

* * *

Jonathan stayed up thinking for hours about the upcoming run long after Speedwagon had logged out and disappeared from virtual space. He poured over the weather maps, trying to plan out the best route that avoided any and all possibilities of rain, which is where BTs naturally flourished. However, the terrain around Mountain Knot was simply too uneven and complicated to traverse without running into a BT zone or at best a MULE encampment. Such a thing was only slightly above a BT encounter, yet MULE rogue porters in those areas were especially vicious. Furthermore, he couldn't risk getting such important cargo stolen by wayward thieves.

He was exhausted trying to figure out the best way to get to the Baron without causing yet another voidout and at some point in all his anxiety his thoughts turned to gibberish. He then decided to take a shower to clear his mind and relax a bit before deciding what to do. 

He stepped into the shower pod and turned on the water, allowing it to run down his tired and beaten up body. It did not go unnoticed by him how the computer system quietly collected his shower water for analysis and creation of more grenades, claiming that for some reason, his blood all bodily fluids were 'especially effective’ against BTs. He rolled his eyes and wondered if he should also piss in the shower and make the grenades ‘extra potent.’ 

It wasn't only the tests and experiments constantly carried out on him that bothered him, but also the invasiveness of the overall system he had to exist in. The cameras everywhere he looked… automated systems that analysed him even when he took a shit! He couldn't even shower without them knowing everything about it. He chuckled, wondering what they'd do if he decided to jerk off then and there. Would they also analyze his cum and make grenades out of it?

He kind of wanted to do it... just grab himself and go at it. His hand obeyed his half-hearted wish and wandered down there on its own, playfully tugging at his thick member, mostly out of defiance to the system rather than for his own gratification. However, he found that was simply not in the spirits for it, not after the encounter with Dio. Normally, the sight of Dio would have made him spring to action immediately... Memories of their time together before the world went to shit returned to him… Of the house they shared, the life they had... Friends, jobs, family... All gone in the blink of an eye, or rather, the blinding flash of a voidout. Life had since split them apart; Jonathan found his way into SPW and began transporting for them and in time lost track of Dio. It wasn't until news of a terrorist cell that sprung up in the east that he surmised Dio had something to do with it, and dreaded being correct. 

Dio had wanted Erina's power and thus abducted her, keeping her in an undisclosed location somewhere in Edge Knot City, all the way on the other side of the country. With no roads anymore, the only way to get there was essentially by foot, at least until he got the Chiral Network completely up and running, which allowed people to instantly 3D print any and all items they would need to rebuild the country. As he pondered on it, he touched the Q-pid necklace on his chest, feeling the water running over it. They were keys to the reconnection of the network. Jojo needed to get each key to each of the terminals in the Knot Cities and get them back online; that was his primary mission, what Erina had asked him to do before she disappeared. 

_Alone we have no future, Jojo,_ she had once said. _Help us rebuild this country._

Since then, he had been trying desperately to keep his promise to her, but his love for Dio pulled him in another direction altogether. 

_Bound by Fate and Destiny. Two stars, intermingling._

Jonathan dipped his head in exhaustion under the running water, watching it gloss over the multitude of stencils on his body, handprints of everyone and everything that constantly tried to grab at him. He had always known, since he was very young, that he had an unusual body, one that instilled a desire in people to want to touch it, own it. Because of his DOOMS and special condition as a repatriate (someone that can come back from the dead at will), every time he is touched by someone or by a BT, the mark stays, like a tattoo, a reminder of the invasion of others upon his boundaries. Jonathan knew early on in his life that nobody really cared about him, only about his strength and his body; only about what he could do for them. Even the UCA, the SPW Foundation and their endless tests only cared about how to weaponise whatever came out of him and what items he could deliver, but never about how he might feel about their overall plans. Most certainly, not at all about his attachment to his BB unit, Giorno. 

Jonathan balled his fists in frustration under the hot water in anger, wanting to punch everything in sight. Just run and escape, find Giorno and disappear forever. Find Dio and try to bring him back from the brink of insanity. He was sick and tired of this bizarre adventure. 

Yet, before he could call it quits, he needed to get Giorno back, and for that, he had to comply with the system... for a while.

At last he stepped out of the shower, infused with determination and began getting ready to go back outside. He spent some time inspecting the state of his stubble in front of the sink mirror, wondering if it was time for a shave and studying his tired, worried, doubtful face in it when suddenly a shadow appeared behind him. A dark hooded figure with a golden mask… Amber eyes that glinted with menace and a lopsided pair of lips that he had kissed so long ago… A hand, ivory white, snaking seductively up his biceps and up to his neck… And then it squeezed… 

Jonathan gasped. Behind him was nothing but the back of the shower pod and that funny-looking umbrella sitting inside it’s hook on the far side of the wall. He could have sworn Dio had been there; he could still feel the warmth of his hands around his throat, yet there he was alone in his private room, no shadow behind him or in the mirror. Jonathan breathed heavily through his fear, trying to calm down. 

“It's just a dream… Just a dream,” he told himself. The visions had been getting stronger and stronger ever since his encounter with Dio. 

Jonathan kept looking into the mirror, his eyes fixating on the funny-looking umbrella. In that moment it dawned on him. He finally knew how to get to Mountain Knot without having to set foot on the mountain at all. 

He walked over the umbrella, grabbed it and gave it a whirl. A sudden burst of light flashed and gold dust danced in the air as Trish appeared. 

"So, you finally made up your mind?" Trish asked him, sweeping some of the gold dust particles that danced around her off from her jacket with her hand. "You gonna come work with me in Passione Express?"

Jonathan smiled shyly at her and shook his head. "Answer's still no… But I do need your help, Trish. I need you to help me jump to Mountain Knot."

Trish's eyes lit up at Jonathan's request. "You'll let me take you with me through my Beach? Really?"

"Yes," Jonathan affirmed. "After everything you've done for me and Giorno… I trust you."

Trish smiled and walked over to Jonathan, placing her gloved hands on his shoulders. She had to reach her arms almost straight up because of the height difference. Jonathan bent at the knees slightly to help her, and slowly they aligned themselves for a Jump; forehead to forehead, with Trish’s fingers massaging his temples. 

"Relax," she whispered softly. "You're nervous. It doesn't work if you're too nervous."

Of course he was. Jonathan wasn't used to being this physically close to anyone, not since Dio anyway. He felt his nose twitch with the sensation of her warm breath. He looked down at her lips and felt magnetically pulled towards them; so pink and soft looking, they looked so tempting. The way her porter suit stuck perfectly to her small, petite body and the way she always smelled of strawberries… It did things to his head. 

He had to admit he hadn't been terribly fond of Trish ever since he met her, mostly because of how pushy she had been about getting him to come work for the organisation she had inherited from her father, Passione Express. It had been a gamble: the delivery company didn't have the best reputation and was rumoured to have been involved in some terrorist attacks. Nonetheless, Jonathan decided in the end he'd rather know Trish for herself than listen to hearsay and agreed to do some orders for her, freelance. 

His instincts proved him right; she'd ended up saving his life on more than one occasion. Truthfully, she was the only one he trusted besides Speedwagon in this whole mess. 

"You're thinking too much," Trish commented, looking into his eyes intently. Jonathan felt his breath hitch; her emerald green eyes seemed to dig into his very soul. 

"Let go and think of where you want to go. I will get you there."

She softened her gaze and smiled at him. "I promise."

Jonathan smiled back and looked at the bracelet she had given him some time ago, what allowed them to jump together. He closed his eyes and slowed down his breathing into Hamon style, trying to shift his thoughts to Giorno, Dio and the task before him. Trish breathed along with him. 

"There it is!" 

She cried out after a beat as the spikes on her jacket triggered in reaction to Jonathan locking onto his destination. Then, in a sudden flash of golden dust, they disappeared together. 

\--- end. 

**Author's Note:**

> Keep On Keeping On 👍🏻  
> [artwork for this fic](https://www.instagram.com/p/CHGR0DJFEgC/?igshid=1si24aqz2si9y)  
> ✨SNS ✨  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/number2891)  
> [IG](https://instagram.com/no.2891_)  
> 


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